Mop and wringer



ER 0 6; AGENTS INVENTOR KARL WE; 3v

K WEGER MOP AND WRINGER Flled June 29, 1948 March 31, 1953 Patented Mar. 31, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOP AND WRINGER Karl Weger, Vienna, Austria Application June 29, 1948, Serial No. 35,950 In Austria July 16, 1947 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-119) This invention relates to a cleaner for floors, walls, windows, and doors, which is provided with a wringing device holding a scrubbing cloth. In a known device of this kind, the scrubbing cloth is clamped fast between two wringing rollers provided at the end of a handle, and pulled through between them, one of the rollers being rigidly fastened to the handle, the other being swingably supported in a clamping device. That construction has several drawbacks, which impair its practical usefulness. n the one hand, the clamping device possesses only a small degree of rigidity, owing to the very long bows of wire to which the swingable wringing roller" The invention provides a cleaner, in which a scrubbing cloth is also clamped fast and pulled through between two clamping elements arranged at the end of a handle, and the aforesaid disadvantages are overcome in a simple way by providing two systems of levers, one of them for moving the clamping element that has the form of a V wringing roller, the other for moving the scrubbing cloth, the elements for actuating said systems of levers being arranged within the gripping range of one hand.

The drawing illustrates an embodiment of the cleaner. Fig. 1 shows the apparatus in a side view, with the clamping device relaxed, prior to the wringing operation. Fig. 2 shows the apparatus after the wringing operation with the scrubbing cloth clamped fast. Fig. 3 is a front view pertaining to Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 2 in the direction of the arrow shown therein.

In the invented apparatus the use of a cloth provided with tassels, or mop, instead of an ordi- I nary scrubbing cloth has proved of particular advantage. The mop 2 can be clamped fast at the lower end of a handle 1. Whereas in most of the known devices the clamping elements consist of two rollers, the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing has a cleat l5 which is fixed crosswise to the lower end of the handle I and whose bottom surface is bevelled, just as the bottom end face of the handle I. The bottom edge of this cleat i5 is overlain by a bead 3 formed by the outward-rolled bottom edge of the scrubbing-cloth guide-cage 5, which is of rectangular cross section and rigidly fastened to the lower part of the handle and to the cleat I5;

This bead 3, backed by the cleat I5, serves as the fixed clamping element. The movable clamping, roller is rotatably supported on the one arm of a forked lever 6, which is pivoted in the pins I fixed to the handle. The other arm of said fork-.

like lever receives one end of the tension spring 8 of the spring-stretcher 9, which is of known,

design.

The throw-over lever ll, provided with the actuating handle !2, carries the V-shaped connecting rod H), which is fastened to the top edge of the mop, and also an extension piece l3, which I as an elongation of the lever ll extends beyond- The length of the thumb piece It is such that the stretcher-lever. 9 when in its strained clamping position (as. shown in Fig. 2), is within the path of said thumb 1 piece, thus being actuated by the movement of;

Since the lever ll,

the fulcrum of said lever.

the throw-over lever ll. however, is intended to act upon the stretcher lever in one direction only, the thumb piece: is. preferably mad resilient so that when the lever II is thrown upward the thumb piece bypasses the stretcher-lever 9, sliding along one of its sides.

The beaded flange 3 does not only facilitate the introduction of the scrubbing cloth or mop, but also supports a U-shaped bow, the legs M of which contact the ends of the roller 4 in their l6. When this spring is removed, the rod [0 can be lifted from the lever I! and be removed together with the mop from the apparatus.

When the rod I0 is to be hung into place,- the levers 9 and ll are in their respective positions as shown in Fig. 1.

Before the apparatus is used, the mop is clamped fast by throwing the stretcher-lever 9 upwardly. In order to wring the mop during or after the cleaning work, it is pulled upward between the roller 4 andthe beaded flange. 3, by moving upwardly the throw-over lever l| by means of the actuating handle I2. The application of the spring-stretcher 8, 9 .ensures a.high clamping force and thus a thorough wringingout of the cloth. The considerably increasing.

3 resistance met in retracting the cloth is overcome without difilculty owing to the advantageous ratio of transmission of the lever I I. Before the scrubbing cloth, from which the water has been removed, can be moved out of the guide-cage 5, the clamping device must be relaxed. This is automatically effected by the extension I3, which at the beginning of the downward movement of the lever ll presses the stretcher-lever 9 over its fulcrum away from the handle, thus automatically relaxing the spring 8. During this operation, the hand which actuates the lever I l is outside the path of the stretcher-lever 9, at the opposite side, so that any danger of injury to the hand appears to be excluded.

What I claim is:

1. In a cleaner comprising a handle having at the lower end thereof a pair of cooperating clamping elements between which a cloth may be either held fast or pulled through, in combination: a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; an element linked to the middle of said lever and adapted .to exercise a pull on a cloth inserted between the clamping elements; a second one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a two-armed lever pivoted to the lower end of the handle, one arm thereof being bifurcated and carrying a clamping roller forming one of the clamping elements; and a spring connecting the other arm of said twoarmed lever with said second one-armed lever; the two one-armed levers being so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use.

2. In a cleaner comprising a handle having at the lower end thereof a pair of cooperating clamping elements between which a cloth may be either held fast or pulled through, in combination: a throw-over lever; a pivot connecting said throwover lever to the handle; an extension of said throw-over lever beyond the pivot thereof; a twoarmed lever pivoted to the lower part of the handle and comprising a first bifurcated arm carrying a clamping roller forming one of the clamping elements; a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; and a spring connecting the second arm of said two-armed lever with said one-armed lever; the throw-over lever and the one-armed lever being so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use; the one-armed lever being H pivotally movable against the force of said spring into an upper end position, in which it. is in the path of said extension, which is adapted during the downward swing of the throw-over lever to strike the one-armed lever out of said upper end position, whereby the spring is relaxed.

3. In a cleaner comprising a handle having at the lower end thereof a pair of cooperating clamping elements between which a cloth may be either held fast or pulled through, in combination: a throw-over lever; a pivot connecting said throwover lever to the handle; a resilient extension of said throw-over lever beyond the pivot thereof; a two-armed lever pivoted to the lower part of the handle, one arm thereof being bifurcated and carrying a clamping roller forming one of the clamping elements; a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; and a spring connecting the second arm of said two-armed lever with said one-armed lever; the throw-over lever and the one-armed lever being so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use; the one-armed lever being pivotally movable against the force of said spring into an upper end position, in which it is in the fixedly connected to the handle, in combination:

a guide cage of rectangular cross section and of lesser longitudinal dimension than the cloth, open at the top and having a rear wall lying along the lower part of the handle down to the fixedly connected clamping element, for guiding the longitudinal movement of the cloth; a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; an element linked to the middle of said lever and adapted to exercise a pull on a cloth inserted between the clamping elements; a second one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a two-armed lever pivoted to the lower end of the handle, one arm thereof being bifurcated and carrying a clamping roller forming the second clamping element; and a spring connecting the other arm of said two-armed lever with said second one-armed lever; the two onearmed levers being so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use.

5. In a cleaner comprising a handle, in combination: a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a second one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a two-armed lever pivoted to the lower part of the handle, one arm thereof being bifurcated and carrying a clamping roller; a spring connecting the second arm of said two-armed lever with said second one-armed lever; a crosscleat fixed to the lower end of the handle, the bottom surfaces of said cleat and of the handle being bevelled; a guide cage of rectangular cross section, open at the top and having a rear wall lying along the lower part of the handle, the lower edge of the rear wall of the guide cage being rolled to form a bead along the lower edges of the cross cleat and handle, the clamping roller being adapted to clamp a cloth against said bead when a pull is exercised on the two-armed lever by the second one-armed lever; and an element linked to the middle of the first one-armed lever for pulling a cloth through between the clamping roller and the head, the guide cage being shorter than the cloth and adapted to guide the longitudinal movement thereof, the two one-armed levers being so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use.

6. In a cleaner comprising a handle, in combination: a one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a second one-armed lever pivoted to the handle; a two-armed lever pivoted to the lower part of the handle, one arm thereof being bifurcated and carrying a clamping roller; a spring connecting the second arm of said two-armed lever with said second one-armed lever; a cross-cleat fixed to the lower end of the handle, the bottom surfaces of said cleat and of the handle being bevelled; a guide cage of rectangular cross section, open at the top and having a rear Wall lying along the lower part of the handle, the lower edge of the rear wall of the guide cage being rolled to form a bead along the lower edges of the crosscleat and handle, the clamping roller being adapted to clamp a cloth against said bead when a pull is exercised on the two-armed lever by the second one-armed lever; an element linked to the middle 5 y of the first one-armed lever for pulling a cloth through between the clamping roller and the bead, the guide cage beingfs'horter than the cloth and adapted to guide the longitudinal movement thereof, the two one-armedlleversbeing so mounted to the handle that their free ends are close to each other when the cloth is in position for use; said head. forming a sleeve and a U-shaped guide how supported in said sleeve and having legs extending along the pathsj described by the end faces of the clamping roller during a, pivotal movement of the two-armed lever.

' KARL WEGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNI'I'ED s'm'rzs mam Number 10 V Number 

